Wānanga as a research methodology

Abstract

Wānanga is a traditional method of Māori knowledge transmission, and has been described as a place, a school, an act, and a form of governance, practice, and pedagogy. Much of the writing on wānanga focuses on the ancient “lore” of Whare Wānanga (Houses of Learning), but more recent work has explored how that pedagogical tradition is relevant to Māori education today, particularly at tertiary level. There is, however, a growing body of writing on wānanga as a research methodology relevant to Māori and iwi (tribal) communities. This paper discusses the increasingly popular use of wānanga in Māori research practice, examining the definitions, roots, and evolution of wānanga as a concept, place, and indigenous method of knowledge construction and transmission. Drawing on wānanga experiences in two different tribal contexts, this paper explores how wānanga works as a practice embedded in, and shaped by, local knowledge, language, place, people and tikanga.

Extending understandings

“…Much culturally responsive research to date has been solely qualitative. Qualitative, kanohi-ki-te-kanohi (face-to-face) methods such as interviews, focus groups, wānanga (Mahuika & Mahuika, 2020), pūrakau (Lee, 2009), talanoa (Vaioleti, 2006), and talaloto (Naufahu, 2018) align well with key principles of culturally responsive research. Quantitative methods, in contrast, have traditionally been associated with the (post)positivist paradigm and Western hegemony that culturally responsive research seeks to resist (Berryman et al, 2013;Smith, 2005).…”

Gene drive and RNAi technologies: a bio-cultural review of next-generation tools for pest wasp management in New Zealand

“…To actively wānanga is to deliberate, discuss and learn. Wānanga as a platform for discussion with research participants is grounded in tikanga and local contexts to co-create and exchange knowledge (Mahuika and Mahuika 2020). Wānanga can work in tandem with Kaupapa Māori methods, mātauranga concepts and decolonisation pedagogy, contributing to shared knowledge and rangatiratanga (self-determination) (Smith et al 2019).…”

He Whiringa Muka: The Relationship between the Whanganui River, Marae, and Waiata

“…The wānanga for Te Morehu Whenua have similar aspirations outlined by Mahuika & Mahuika (2020) and is facilitated in conjunction with my work, Te Atawhai o Te Ao as well as the descendants of Rānana Marae.…”

“…Intially, the tool of wānanga came from the ethical framework of Whanganui kaiponu as a preferred site of waiata learning to safely transmit the musical aspects of waiata and its knowledge. However, literature on wānanga as a research framework activated practical methods of navigating knowledge sharing, positioning, and new knowledge creation (Gifford, 2021;Mahuika & Mahuika, 2020;Smith et al, 2019). Therefore, both of these meanings surrounding wānanga within this research context allowed for the practice of Kaupapa Māori principles and Whanganui kaiponu.…”

“…Te Morehu Whenua learn their whakapapa to Rānana Marae, the Whanganui River as well as its surrounding environs through waiata, whaikōrero, and karanga as a part of a larger succession strategy and hapū framework called 'He Toi Wawata' aiming to provide a "vibrant and well-maintained marae complex" (Rānana Māori Committee, 2019, p. environments and differs from wānanga. For wānanga, whakapapa is central, and this forum is an inherited pedagogical tradition, thereby influencing relationships with one another and the surrounding environment (Mahuika & Mahuika, 2020). 36 The Whakarauora Research Project is funded through the Health Research Council of New Zealand and facilitated through Te Atawhai o Te Ao, which is an Independent Māori Institute for environment and health based in Whanganui, Aotearoa.…”